Last Name

Chapter 12.

Hour 72. Monday, 8:00 AM

"Daichi! They're in elevator three, most likely coming down to the garage!"

"Okay, thanks," Daichi acknowledged before hanging up the phone and turning to the two officers who had been in the middle of trying to snap the trunk of the car that was behind him open. "They're coming down. How's the trunk com—"

"Got it!" one of the officers exclaimed right as it popped up. Daichi rushed to the back of the car to see his best friend lying unconscious in the cramped space. His hands and legs were taped together and a piece of tape covered his mouth as well. Daichi reached out his hand and placed two fingers on his neck. Thank God, there's a pulse. He finally let out a sigh of relief. Ever since he found out Suga had been shoved in here by Haku, the stress and worry that had already been drowning him this past weekend only got worse.

"Hurry, carry him into one of the cars. Worry about the tape later. We need to go ahead and get in place before they get here," Giichi stated, walking to the back of the car to see the situation. The two officers nodded before quickly grabbing Suga's unconscious body and moving him to a car that was safely far away from where they stood. Giichi shut the trunk behind them before turning back around and ordering the other five remaining officers into various spaces between the cars so they wouldn't be easily seen. Daichi knew Giichi wouldn't give him any orders, but Daichi didn't need any. This was his wife they were talking about. He wasn't going to sit to the side and twiddle his thumbs. In all honesty, it had taken every last ounce of self control in him to not charge up into the room that she had been apparently taken into, but Giichi had asked Daichi to trust him. Going in blind and having this standoff inside the hotel would put the lives of countless civilians at risk. That's why they had decided to get Suga out of the trunk before formulating a plan, but soon, the information that Haru, who was also somehow at the hotel, had seen and run away from Haku was exactly what they needed. Haku surely wouldn't stay much longer and would attempt to leave as soon as possible. The garage was already isolated, and cutting him off as he tried to escape to his car would be their best bet. Daichi couldn't argue with that logic. However, even though they had only been setting up for mere minutes, fighting against the clock to make sure they were ready before Haku came down, it had still felt like hours upon hours for Daichi.

After finding a good vantage point that would give him easy accessibility to the route Haku would most likely be taking towards his car, Daichi crouched down, almost losing his balance due to the extra weight he was carrying. His hands were sweaty and his heart was racing. Nori was alive, but the way Michimiya had described her had made him want to rip Haku's throat out. It was a good thing Daichi wasn't carrying a gun, he didn't know how he'd react after actually seeing the state she was in.

The elevator doors dinged, and Daichi watched as that filth, Haku, pushed out a wheelchair that held Nori and a little boy who was sitting on her lap. Daichi had seen this little boy before. It was the same boy he had seen at the precinct on Friday, the one Daichi had almost ran over in his rush to get to Imai's office. His eyes then focused on Nori. Michimiya had stated that she couldn't really see her face because Nori had been wearing a mask and so she hadn't been able to explain her actual condition besides her body language, but right now, Nori wore no mask. Daichi could clearly see the bruises on her face. Anger festered in his body as he was about to stumble forward, almost disregarding the plan they had come up with, but a hand on his shoulder held him back. Daichi turned to see it was Giichi.

"She knows," he simply whispered before nodding his head back towards Nori.

Daichi turned to look, confused about what he meant by that, but then he realized it too.

Haku was too flustered to take in his surroundings as his primary focus was to get to his car, but Nori was calm. Daichi didn't know how, but her gaze was fixated on a spot where Daichi could clearly see from his vantage point that another officer had taken cover. He then watched as Nori tucked the little boy into her arms, wrapping herself around him before reaching to the side of the wheelchair. At the same time, Daichi observed every other officer that he had a clear view of reach for their guns as they all prepared for what was coming next. He held his breath as Nori pulled the emergency break on the chair. She was forcefully thrown forward, twisting her body around the boy in midair so when they crashed painfully onto the ground, he landed on top of her, avoiding being scathed by the concrete ground. The wheelchair narrowly missed hitting the both of them as it flipped over and landed a few feet away on its side. Haku tumbled over it and landed roughly on his back with a thud.